A little further from my box...

One really great benefit of finally committing to a blog is that it forces me to try new recipes. I love cooking and I cook for myself  everyday, but usually stick to a select few recipes. Today's post is truly an adventurous move as far as my recipe experiments go...oeufs en cocotte. What is that you may ask? It translates to egg casserole and the real French version is super fatty and creamy and REAL. But, the recipe I used is also real, and creamy just a LOT less fatty. I was originally attracted to roostblog.com via foodgawker.com, because she posted a recipe for a harvest cake with vanilla cream...if you know me at all, you know how much I love all fall recipes so this made my heart skip a little beat. Of course it's still blazing hot here in southern California so my taste of autumn has yet to come. Anyways, I started roaming around Roost, and found this recipe for oeufs en cocotte. I was intrigued. It involved ramekins and chard...two things I can honestly say I've never been inspired by before. I decided to try it, and I must say was more than pleasantly surprised by the result. It's this lovely little rustic looking dish that is so satisfying, I wanted more. Good thing I ate it before taking a picture, so now I have to make it again...darn. Oh, one last thing, this recipe is a single serving but the recipe made on Roost is for two...take your pick!

Oeufs en Cocotte
adapted from Roost Blog - Oeufs en Cocotte

• half pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 onion chopped (I used yellow and it was delicious)
• 1 small garlic clove minced
• 1 cup chopped rainbow chard leaves
• 1/2 TBS. dried oregano and rosemary
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
• olive oil
• salt and pepper (to taste, I didn't use any salt)
• one 7oz. ramekin (I think the one I used was bigger, but this is the size originally called for)
• herbs of choice/balsamic vinegar for garnishing

Preheat oven to 350F. Place cherry tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a saute pan with a little olive oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are almost translucent. Add chard and cook until wilted. Add oregano and rosemary and cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and place in a bowl. Add parmesan to chard mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow mixture to cool - not completely, but a noticeable amount. 

Crack the egg and separate the white and the yolk. Pour the white into the cooled chard mixture and mix. 

Remove tomatoes from oven once they are done roasting, but leave the oven on at 350F. 

Place a SMALL pat of butter in the bottom of the ramekin and place in oven for about 2 minutes. Remove ramekin and fill with the egg white/chard mixture. Carefully place the egg yolk on top and as many of the roasted tomatoes as you like. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes (or however long it takes until your egg is cooked to your liking - I like my eggs with absolutely no runny-ness so I cooked mine for 25 minutes). Remove from oven and garnish with herbs, balsamic, or leftover tomatoes. I roasted some asparagus with a little oregano, rosemary and olive oil and placed those on top with a drizzle of balsamic. Bon Appetit, mes cheres amies!